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NEW YORK - In the first inning of today's game at Citi Field, Ivan Rodriguez made a nice play to nearly throw out Jose Reyes on a bunt single. Jason Marquis made an impressive barehanded scoop-and-throw to first base, and Rick Ankiel launched a great throw home from center field on Angel Pagan's single. Alex Cora also charged a bunt from third, firing over to first base on Reyes' second at-bat of the day.
None of those throws went for outs, though, and with the help of five hits in two innings off Jason Marquis - two of them infield singles - the Mets have a 2-1 lead over the Nationals.
So far, this game looks like it could be a death-by-a-thousand-cuts kind of afternoon for the Nationals. Marquis has been sharp, Cora's throw should have yielded an out and Marquis' throw to first base could have been called an out, as well. But he's thrown 43 pitches in the first two innings in part because of all the bloop hits, and though he's capable of getting his pitch count back on track with some quick innings, this hasn't started well for him.
The Nationals got their only run on a bit of aggressive baserunning, calling for a double steal with runners on first and second with Ivan Rodriguez at the plate. Rodriguez hit an easy grounder to second, but because Adam LaRoche and Michael Morse were on third and second, respectively, the groundout pushed a run across the plate instead of ending the inning with a double play.
